This week we’re exploring some South African horror and delving into The Tokoloshe. In case you didn’t pick up on the accent, one of us is in fact a Saffer. Buckle in heathens, this one is a ride.
We explore some of the stories around this Zulu mythological creature and some of the more… uh… interesting stories involving tokoloshes.
And, of course we’re all about the horror behind the horror on this podcast, so what would an episode be without something true crimey?
Learn from the best:
The Tokoloshe Killer: True Crime South Africa | Elifasi Msomi | True Crime with Bella Monsoon
From Executed Today
The Tokoloshe: Mythology and Modern Trauma
The little creature with a big appetite
A collection of tokoloshe stories from the Daily Sun
The Obscure Film Club:
Pinky Pinky:
This South African horror explores real-life social horrors through a modern take on the urban myth of the nefarious bathroom monster. Reimagined as a resurrected pedophile principal who died in a fire, it’s essentially a South African version of Freddy Krueger.
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark:
While exploring the 19th century manor, Sally accidentally stumbles across a hidden basement, where the evil little creatures lie in wait. They lure Sally to her doom with promises of being friends, when in reality, they want to rip her apart. They're ancient demons that initially fed on children's teeth, until they wanted something more substantial. They are "tooth fairies" you hope you never see.
Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman.
Japanese folklore is full of malevolent spirts, but few are as harrowing as Kuchisake-onna, the "slit-mouthed woman."
Kuchisake-onna joined Sadako, Kayako, and other onryo (vengeful ghosts) on movie screens in 2007's Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman. Here, she's the spirit of an abusive mother who possesses other women in order to continue preying on children after death.
Cry of the Banshee:
Featuring Vincent Price as an evil judge who is cursed by a witch to suffer at the hands of a briefly glimpsed, devil-like sidhe –- an umbrella term for the supernatural creatures that inhabit prehistoric burial mounds across Ireland. Since the banshee is a sidhe –- the Old Irish phrase for banshee is "bean sidhe," or "woman of the mounds" -– and the creature does scream, by default, it's a banshee
